Raving Liberal – The CORE issue with Marijuana

In any conversation about pot legalization, you will hear many different perspectives, ranging from “it should be legal” to “throw em in jail”. But the reality of the Marijuana controversy is really quite simple and comes down to one basic fallacy.

Marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 narcotic. By definition, a Schedule 1 narcotic is a drug “with no medical value”. This literally means that under Federal law, not only can it not be possessed, sold, or grown, it cannot even be used for research.. That’s right — even universities are not allowed to do research on marijuana. No wonder there are no documented studies of the myriad of medical benefits of Marijuana. It is illegal to conduct them. And this is patently ridiculous, and against everything America stands for.

While there are at least a few reasonable arguments against legalizing Marijuana completely, (and numerous ones in favor of it) there is simply NO REASONABLE ARGUMENT that can be made suggesting the Marijuana has no medical value, or should not be available for medical research.

This is the fundamental flaw in the US marijuana policy. The debate on legalization is a complex one, but the suggestion that Marijuana is a Schedule 1 narcotic with no medical value is just plain wrong, false, incorrect, untrue, pick your word. Millions of people will swear to the medicinal value of Marijuana. Tens of thousands of doctors will swear to the medicinal value of Marijuana. That alone should be enough to require that it be rescheduled. Once a Schedule 2 drug, the real clinical trials and research can be conducted to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Marijuana is literally a miracle drug.

Once rescheduled, the government will have no recourse for prosecuting those growing or selling the drug legally under state laws. They can only require a specific and consistent level of regulation and enforcement, as they do with any prescription drug.

This is where the war to protect patient’s access to Medical Marijuana must be fought. We the people must mobilize a national petition to reschedule Marijuana to the proper definition. Schedule 2. We win this war and the battle is over. Whether you believe it should be legal of not, there is no reasonable argument for prohibiting Marijuana from being used in research and prescribed by doctors. NONE.